Playing in its first conference road trip of the season the Lee men's soccer team will come home with a pair Gulf South victories after a 3-0 blanking of Union University on Sunday afternoon.
The Flames played from in front after sophomore Drew Jackson connected on his fourth goal of the season in the 19th minute. The score was set up by senior David Perez who continues to find his teammates while drawing plenty of attention from opposing defenses.
Lee would hold the one goal advantage heading into the halftime break.
The two clubs would exchange several scoring opportunities in the first portion of the second half before the Flames would ultimately put the contest on ice with two late scores in the second half. Perez added his team-leading sixth goal of the season in the 80th minute. Jose Orellana, who recorded the assist on the Perez goal, made it 3-0 just two minutes later on strike set up by Jake Molony.
"Drew got things going for us on a great ball from DP (Perez)," said head coach Paul Furey. "It was good to have Jose finally score as he has been so close all season. We also hit the post four times. So we definitely created chances."
The Lee offense fired away with 19 shots and placed nine on frame. The Bulldogs were also aggressive with 15 shots, seven on goal, but could not connect against the stingy Flames' defense.
Daniel Hrenko continued to shine in the net for the Flames. The freshman is now 6-0 while turning in eight saves in the contest. Union keeper Igor Luczenksy had six saves in the loss
"Our defense continues to settle in and Dan has been stellar in goal," commented Furey.
Furey's club has now won six straight matches after starting the season 1-3. The Flames are 7-3 overall and off to a perfect 2-0 start in league play. The Bulldogs fall to 3-7 on the year and 1-3 in conference.
"Another good conference road win for us and I didn't feel like we played exceptionally well overall which makes a 3-0 victory that much sweeter," concluded Furey.
Lee will return home and look to keep the winning ways going with a pair of conference tilts next weekend. On Friday the Flames will host Spring Hill College at 5 p.m. while on Sunday West Florida comes to town for a 4 p.m. showdown.